Mortgage rates fall, shy of record lows
30-year-fixed average at 4.82 percent, falling from 4.87 last week
Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped this week after rising a week earlier, and remain just above record lows.
Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.82 percent this week, down from an average of 4.87 percent last week. Rates have been below 5 percent for five consecutive weeks.
The all-time low of 4.78 percent was recorded on the week of April 2. Freddie Mac’s survey dates back to 1971.
Low rates have sparked a surge in refinancing activity, with nearly 80 percent of new home loan applications coming from borrowers seeking to refinance. Freddie Mac’s sibling company, Fannie Mae, refinanced $77 billion in loans last month, nearly double February’s level and the best month for such activity since 2003, when the housing market was still surging.
Mortgage rates fell dramatically over the winter. They fell further after the Federal Reserve said last month it would buy $1.2 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $300 billion in long-term government debt, which traditionally influences rates on 30-year home loans.
“The housing industry is starting to exhibit some positive signs,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief econmist, said in a statement but noted they were “scarce and too early to tell how permanent.” More Details.
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